Being made a scapegoat, says Sachin Vaze; in custody till April 3
NIA officials have said that Vaze is the man behind the Antilla explosives case. On February 25, a green Scorpio was found parked outside billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s residence.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday extended the custody of suspended Mumbai policeman Sachin Vaze till April 3 after the federal investigative agency told the court that it found 62 cartridges from his residence which were unaccounted for and that 25 bullets issued by the police department to him were missing.
NIA officials have said that Vaze is the man behind the Antilla explosives case. On February 25, a green Scorpio was found parked outside billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s residence. It contained a bag with 20 loose sticks of gelatin (with no detonator or timer) and a threatening letter addressed to Ambani and his wife. Vaze, who used to head the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch, was initially in charge of the case.
NIA took over the probe on March 9 following an order by the Union home ministry and arrested Vaze on March 13. It is also probing Vaze’s role in the death of Mansukh Hiran, a Thane businessman linked to the car.
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, representing NIA, told the court that Vaze was issued 30 bullets by his department, but NIA was able to find only five at his Thane residence during searches. Singh said that NIA had seized 62 cartridges from Vaze’s house that are unaccounted for.
“I have been made a scapegoat in this entire incident and have nothing to do with the crime,” Vaze told the court on Thursday. “I was the investigating officer for one-and-a-half days and I did what was required to investigate the case... Not only me, but all Crime Branch officers and Mumbai Police also did (what was required),” Vaze said. “But suddenly something changed and when I went to NIA on March 13, I was put under arrest,” he told the judge through his lawyer, senior advocate Abad Ponda.
NIA on Wednesday said it would invoke sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), an anti-terror law, against Vaze. The sections deal with conspiring to commit a terror act.
ASG Singh told the court of special NIA judge PR Sintre on Thursday that the agency wanted to probe how Vaze managed to accumulate such a sizable stock of ammunition. He told the court that Vaze has not been cooperating and was yet to reveal crucial information such as the provenance of the loose gelatin sticks.
Ponda said that since there was no detonator, the case did not fall under UAPA. The scope of the anti-terrorist law, Ponda said, extended only if there was an intention to hurt the unity, sovereignty, integrity and security of the country and target a community. The judge extended Vaze’s remand by 15 days instead of 30, as is permissible under the UAPA.
The murder
The ASG said the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran was connected to the bomb scare and needed to be probed.
Hiran, an auto parts dealer who was previously known to Vaze, had borrowed the Scorpio vehicle between November and the first week of February. His body washed up ashore the Reti Bunder creek on March 5.
Following his death, Hiran’s wife sought a probe against Vaze.
NIA took Vaze to the creek on Thursday night to reconstruct the crime scene.
At a press conference held earlier this week, Maharashtra ATS chief Jaijeet Singh -- whose unit was involved in Hiran death probe -- said Vaze was the “mastermind” and the murder was carried out by Naresh Gor (a bookie) and Vinayak Shinde (a former constable).
Both men are now in the custody of NIA, which was also handed over the murder case files, evidence and post mortem reports on Thursday.
Sharing details of the investigation, an NIA officer told HT, “As part of his plan to produce a sensational case in Mumbai and then solve it in record time, the arrested assistant police inspector, who was in charge of the CIU, asked Hiran to leave his Scorpio on the highway on February 17.”
“Hiran, after leaving the car on Mulund-Airoli Road, met Vaze near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus the same day, and handed over the keys as asked by the officer. Vaze then asked Hiran to lodge a complaint (of a missing car), which Hiran filed on February 18,” the officer added.
Once he was made the investigating officer, Vaze asked Hiran to take the rap, but the latter demurred, said a second NIA officer. NIA officials believe Vaze’s plan was to create a link between Hiran (once he confessed) and some Pakistani terror group or suspect, to make it look like a conspiracy planned by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence. The officials admitted this remains a theory yet to be proved.
New leads
NIA officials said they have Vaze’s call records, showing multiple calls to and from Hiran in February and much before that. They also claim to have his location data, his presence at various locations as seen in CCTV footage, and testimony from witnesses.
NIA told the court on Thursday that Vaze, during the time he was tasked to investigate the explosives in the Scorpio, allegedly collected and destroyed CCTV footage of several places.
ASG Singh said that at least seven relevant Digital Video Recordings were destroyed by the accused, but the agency collected at least 112 TB data in the form of Call Detail Records (CDR) and Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDR) and the team wished to confront Vaze with this.
NIA also said it has collected forensic evidence such as burnt clothes, ₹5.73 lakh cash with a note counting machine, several number plates, as well as other samples from five cars, including a Mercedes Vaze drove and an Innova of the Crime Branch.
Explosives planted
From February 17 to 25, the Scorpio was with Vaze and his associates in CIU, investigations revealed. On February 25, a fourth NIA investigator said, Vaze and a constable of CIU went in a convoy of two cars — the Scorpio and an Innova — to Carmichael Road around 2:20am to drop the Scorpio, laden with gelatin sticks, near Ambani’s residence, Antilia. A threat letter, addressed to Ambani and his wife, Nita, had already been placed beforehand in the vehicle. “Vaze and the constable took turns to drive Scorpio and then they returned in the Innova,” the officer said.
“But, around 4.30am, Vaze returned to the spot to check the Scorpio as he thought he had left his identity card in it by mistake,” the officer added. This visit, NIA officials said, has been established by CCTV footage from Mulund toll naka, where the Innova can be seen re-entering Mumbai from Thane around 4am after leaving the city half-an-hour earlier.
NIA officials said the agency will likely make the constable, whom they did not name, a witness rather than charge him in conspiracy.
(With inputs from Neeraj Chauhan)
